©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Abingdon Superintendent: IMRF in Huge Mess |
The economy is taking a major toll on the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, and officials in the Abingdon School District are getting the word out now about the potential consequences.
District 217 Superintendent Tami Roskamp told the school board Wednesday night that she received a letter from IMRF indicating there have been staggering losses. IMRF is the retirement plan for non-certified employees, which have to work a minimum of 600 hours a year to be eligible.
Roskamp tells WGIL the impact of negative investment returns will be far-reaching. "Through November 30, (IMRF) had lost $6.5 BILLION," Roskamp said. "The Board of Trustees is going to start meeting with their staff, and they're going to make a decision about employer contribution rates -- which also will affect our levy, because we ask for that money through our levy process. This will not go into effect until 2010, but my bookkeeper and I will be attending more meetings and having more information."
The IMRF meetings are expected to begin next month and make a decision on employer contribution rates. That decision could include a percentage cap, with an actual percentage possibly determined when preliminary 2008 investment returns for the full year are known.
Two board members in particular were angry about the news. Jim Bloomberg and Todd Thompson said the school district and others shouldn't be held responsible for bad investments made by someone else.
In other business, the board approved with a 6-0 vote to join the Illinois Energy Consortium for two years. The district gets a locked-in electricity rate of 6 cents per kilowatt, which is three cents cheaper than the current rate. Roskamp says the district's savings is expected to be about $40,000 a year. |
|
| 12 18 08 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
